The allegations are shocking enough. But more appalling is the fact that the establishment covered them up. Police dismissed victims as liars. An investigation into abuse in 2000 was limited to abuse that occurred inside children’s homes.

Those who had been driven elsewhere to be abused by others, including senior Tories, couldn’t give evidence about that. The final report protected the names of several alleged abusers—including two senior Tories.

A previous inquiry commissioned by Clwyd County Council was never published. Copies of it were pulped so that the local authority could maintain its insurance cover.

Politicians and the press are usually eager to denounce paedophiles and call for tougher sanctions for abusers. But when people in power abuse children, they turn a blind eye. It seems some abusers matter more than others.

Along with Cameron’s inquiry, the police investigation into allegations of child abuse in north Wales could also be reopened. Yet the entire establishment has failed victims of abuse time and time again as it has continued to protect people in power.

Sadly there’s no guarantee that fresh investigations will deliver truth or justice. This scandal doesn’t simply condemn individual Tories. It’s an indictment of the sick system they uphold.

35 thoughts on “Thatcher’s Downing Street child abuse scandal”

The revelations that the Jimmy Savile paedophile scandal could have extended into Downing Street could reopen one of the most shocking cover-ups in British history. The case involves the Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast, where a child sex abuse scandal came to light in January 1980.

Private Eye magazine alleged that high-ranking members of the Whitehall civil service and senior military officers were involved in the abuse. Former army press officer Colin Wallace said the authorities knew about the abuse for six years before they acted.

If any good can come out of these cover-ups and miscarriages of justice, it is that more people can see the state for what it is. That the crimes of predatory “celebrities” are now being taken seriously will make many question the ethics of all those who run our institutions.